A steady infusion of floating installation technology has sustained luxury vinyl tile’s (LVT) double-digit growth for more than a decade, according to industry insiders.

In 2008, seven years after Congoleum created the modern LVT category with the launch of its glued down DuraStone, Metroflor introduced floating installations to the category with grip-strip Konecto. At the time, the weak global economy negatively impacted sales throughout the industry with the exception of LVT, which continued to grow by double digits.

Konecto forever changed the category’s installation process. “Before Konecto, I’d have to take buckets of glue and tools to the jobsite — there was a lot of prep work before you even touched the tile,” said Leo Alberts, a Philadelphia-based private contractor. “Now with floating LVT, I take the product and my work belt, a tape measure, a utility knife and a steel square — that’s all you need. And no glue. That saves time and money for everybody involved.”

Armstrong and Congoleum are among the most well-known brands to adopt grip-strip floating installation systems. And most recently, Metroflor launched a next generation version that allows its Aspire grip-strip to be grouted.

“LVT is going to grow again this year and we want a piece of it,” said Russell Rogg, CEO, Metroflor. “We want to drive the category with innovation, not be driven by it.”

Click enters the market

At the 2010 Surfaces show, EarthWerks and Mannington were the sole exhibitors of click LVT. This year, more than 70 click LVT exhibitors from North America, Europe and Asia were at Surfaces.

“LVT was already growing nicely but click accelerated it — click was like pouring gasoline on a fire,” said David Sheehan, vice president of Mannington’s commercial LVT business. “It’s rare to be in a product category where 10 years later you’re still realizing strong double-digit growth. But that’s what click has done for us.”

But with the growing popularity of click LVT came the influx of imported product with varying degrees of quality — similar to what happened with laminate flooring.

“Our Linkwerks click offering is taking market share from every other flooring category,” said Jonathan Train, vice president of product development, EarthWerks. “But the biggest difficulty is not every dealer can distinguish between quality product with virgin vinyl cores and precise milling and those of a supplier that makes inferior product with additives.”

Loose lay changes category again

Also introduced in 2010 was FreeFit, a loose lay LVT utilizing a self-immobilizing backer that allows product to simply be dropped into place — sort of like a bath mat — without utilizing adhesives, grip-strips or click systems to maintain commercial-grade installations.

“FreeFit is an entirely new approach to installation,” said Dave Reichwein, president and CEO, FreeFit. “Because it is composed of pure virgin vinyl with no additives, it is stable. And because of the patented backer, you can lay it down anyway you like without glues and locking systems — even combining tiles and planks — and it won’t move. And then you can pick any tile or plank up again.”

The product is so easy it takes getting used to, said Guy Freeman, executive vice president of Oregon-based Cronin Company. For instance, FreeFit’s is the only floor required to be installed flush against the wall without expansion gaps.

“FreeFit goes against how we train everybody to leave expansion gaps without exception. FreeFit is the exception,” said Freeman. “There’s no such thing as a perfect floor, but you won’t find an easier floor to install than FreeFit. There’s nothing easier than dropping a product down over any substrate. And you can pick it up and put it down somewhere else as many times as you like. You can’t do that with grip-strip and click.”

In three short years, others have caught on to the loose lay concept. Raskin Industries, Karndean Designflooring, Earthworks, Metroflor and most recently Shaw Industries have introduced similar systems incorporating different self-immobilizing and/or tacky backers.

“Our iNTACT uses what we call WaveTRAC technology. It’s a dry tack adhesive on a waved bottom virgin vinyl core,” said Russell Rogg, CEO, Metroflor. “Innovation is a part of our brand. Loose lay is just the latest addition to our existing dry back, grip-strip and click offering. Each system has its advantages and we want to supply them all.”

Dealers were attracted to EarthWerks’ new loose-lay Aurora at Surfaces 2013.